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For most people today, their GPS (Global Positioning System) has become a lifeline, giving directions to the nearest bathroom or restaurant. But the price we pay for the convenience could be our sense of direction.

“I do think GPS devices cause our navigational skills atrophy.” said Nora Newcombe, a psychologist at Temple University in the US who studies how the human brain navigates. “The problem is that you don’t see an overview of the area and where you are in relation to other things.”

To understand the risk, you first need to understand how our brain keeps us from getting lost. Through experiments, researchers have found that our navigational strategies usually fall into two groups. The first involves a spatial map inside your brain. As you explore an area, you think about how the streets fit together and the best way to get between different places. Eventually, the map lets you navigate between any two points in the area. The second involves a series of landmarks and steps: turn right at the gas station, and your school is on the left. It’s quick and reliable, but less flexible—it doesn’t help you get from your school to a totally new place, even if it’s nearby.

These two methods might not sound all that different, but according to Nora Newcombe, a psychologist at Temple University in the US, people who are bad at navigation have trouble with the first strategy – creating spatial maps. What’s more, people’s ability to create maps is decided by how often we use the skill.

That helps explain what happens when people trust themselves with GPS devices. According to Professor Veronique Bohbot of McGill University, people depending on GPS show more activity in the part of the brain that is good at following directions—but less activity in the part which creates the spatial maps.

It turns out that our sense of direction isn’t the only thing we could lose. One more thing that could go is our connection to the environment we travel through. Researchers have found that when people rely on GPS while driving, their memory of their trip is of a route on a screen, rather than the landscape they traveled through. Moreover, researchers believe that active navigation improves the type of thinking used in all kinds of spatial processes. “It’s things like urban planning, and looking at a map to see where resources are. That’s not replaceable by your phone.” Newcombe said.

1.______is what we may lose for the convenience of using GPS.

A.The ability to read maps B.The sense of feeling the sun

C.The chance to do urban planning D.The connection to where we travel

2.The underlined word “atrophy” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.

A.become weaker B.become stronger

C.become more useful D.become less important

3.What may be Veronique Bohbot’s purpose in his research?

A.To explain why people use navigation

B.To prove what happens when we use GPS devices.

C.To find out people’s ability to create the spatial maps.

D.To tell the differences between the first strategy and the second direction.

4.What may be the writer’s attitude towards people relying on GPS devices?

A.Objective B.Ambiguous C.Negative D.Indifferent

高三英语阅读选择中等难度题

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